Painting skies and clouds in watercolor is an exciting prospect for an artist and the process is made easier by this video of artist Patrick-Ley Greaves. Mixing of colors, developing negative shapes, leaving edges soft and hard as well as working in wet in wet and wet on dry are some of the techniques one can learn from this demonstration. More of his videos at Patrick’s website.

“In this solitude you will begin to understand the necessity of living with yourself as you are, not as you think you should be or as you have been. See if you can look at yourself without any tremor, any false modesty, any fear, any justification or condemnation – just live with yourself as you actually are.”

Living with yourself as you are

– Freedom from the Known (69)

Vasanta Vihar, Chennai, Krishnamurti Foundation India’s headquarters, is indeed a beautiful place to make a beginning in that direction.

Welcome to the Open House, ‘ J. Krishnamurti – the Man, Message and Beyond’ at Vasanta Vihar, 124 Greenways Road, R. A. Puram, Chennai 600028, on January 5 and 6 (9.30 am to 7.30 pm). The event features a photo exhibition on the life and teachings of Krishnamurti, video screenings, thematic clippings, interactive sessions and discount sale of books, audios and videos.

Eminent artist, writer, naturalist Cathy Johnson’s website is a treasure pot for artists. The art tips page on the site covers almost everything a student would like to learn – from dirawing, sketching, watercolor to painting wild flowers, perspective, drawing fingers… the list is endless. And you can download them all as pdf files! Here’s the link to the site: http://www.cathyjohnson.info/ And here are the files: http://www.cathyjohnson.info/tips.html

This is an attempt of Geoff Kersey’s autumn lane. His video demonstration is available on thepaintinganddrawingchannel.com.

Though my work is not comparable to the original and looks most part a lot of mud, I have so many positives to take from it and it has given me the confidence to improve further, and I hope to post an improved version later.

The channel’s schedule for September includes programmes featuring artists such as Frank Halliday, Linda Kemp, Bente King, Richard Taylor, Jill Bays, Arnold Lowrey, Hazel Soan, and themes such as landscapes, botanical art, drawing workshops, painting buildings, acrylics and so on. So much in store for the art student.

“Where do I start?” is one question often asked by aspiring artists who have a strong urge to give expression to their latent talent, but lack the resources and the guidance to move on and explore.

Well, they say you can only start where you are and the more serious you are farther you will travel and that the very interest will make available to you opprtunities and resources necessary for its fulfilment. Sounds a bit mystical? True this may be, truer still is the difficulties and uncertainties facing a serious student of art, if he is pressed for time and art is not his full-time pursuit. And to this breed comes the rescue of the power of the Internet presenting it with an inexhaustible compilation of resources necessary for growth.

Ujwala, whose name I chanced upon in my own pursuit of art resources, I found, is an artist who has travelled the long distance and has made life easier for artist aspirants. Read his ‘Where do I start”‘ post here: http://drawtheline.wordpress.com/where-do-i-begin/

Want to learn by watching professional artists doing ? Take a peek at thepaintinganddrawingchannel.com. I have immensely benefited by their broadband live programmes broadcast at 4 p.m GMT on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. Here is the schedule for the rest of August.